Written by Mark Donnell, MBC Sunday School/Discipleship Specialist Editor’s note: The following is adapted from“Becoming a Disciple-Making Church,” by Steve J. Williams. It has been updated and is used by permission. This is the first of three articles. 1. Disciple-making is not a program. Some churches have equated discipleship and disciple-making with a church program for so long that it’s hard for them to think any other way. That’s too bad because biblical disciple-making is just too … [Read more...]
Common sense and prayer prevail at Supreme Court
In what is a significant victory for religious liberty, freedom of conscience and common sense, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled May 5 in favor of the town of Greece, N.Y., which had been sued for opening local government meetings with a prayer, often Christian in nature. In the 5-4 ruling authored by Justice Anthony Kennedy and supported by the other four conservative justices, the court said that opening local government meetings with sectarian prayers does not violate the Establishment … [Read more...]
MBC Pastors: Important Survey
This week I am sending an email to Missouri Baptist pastors with a link to an important survey that focuses on cooperation. We have made every effort to find email addresses for the 1,900 senior pastors from every size church in our state convention – or a mailing address for those without access to email. In addition, we are including many other paid staff, volunteers and lay leaders in the survey. The reason: Your Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC) state missionaries sincerely desire to … [Read more...]
Is Mormonism really necessary?
As the official version of the story goes, in 1820, 14-year-old Joseph Smith went into the woods near his home in rural New York to pray. There, God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him. Caught up in the Protestant revivalism of his day, Smith inquired as to which of the Christian denominations he should join. None of them, he was told, because they were all wrong. “The Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight,” Smith later … [Read more...]
Vocationally called by God
In the Lord’s Prayer we are told to pray for our daily bread (Matt 6:11). This prayer is a model of what it means to trust and ask God to meet our needs, our physical and spiritual needs, by asking God to provide our most basic need, the need to eat. But how does God normally give us our daily bread? None of us got up this morning, went outside, and collected the daily bread that God deposited on our doorstep while we were sleeping. We either went to the refrigerator or drove somewhere to … [Read more...]
BlessMom on Mother’s Day
“Her children arise and call her blessed.” – Proverbs 31:28 Wouldn’t it be nice if children would appreciate and bless their mothers from birth? Why is it that so many people really don’t appreciate their moms until they are grown? Young children cling to their moms, but often teens will shout, “I hate you” so convincingly that we may believe it. Whatever the reasons, it is nice to know that in many cases children do come to realize the importance of their mothers once they are on their … [Read more...]
Beating Cancer, staying faithful
Two types of cancer were growing in my body when I was ordained to the gospel ministry back in 1986. That was in March and by May, my oncologist had scheduled me for four week-long courses of chemotherapy over the next four months. God has healed me and I am grateful! The phone call was for me. My doctor’s voice had a sterile chill, “Mr. Snowden, the tests came back. Those nodules in your lungs have metastasized – and it’s spreading fast. You are scheduled to begin your first round of … [Read more...]
The total package is giving and receiving
Big things come in small packages. I think the person who said that sat beside me in my high school geometry class. And even though I was really bad at geometry, I would never copy off that guy’s paper. Because that would be very wrong, yes. But also because the answer would also likely be very wrong. Let’s be real. As much as I tried, I could never make myself care what “Y” equaled. Congruently (see what I did there?), I don’t care what size the package is. Just as long as the package is … [Read more...]
Thank God for earthquakes
The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 changed everything. In minutes this thriving, affluent city was brought to its knees. Roughly 50,000 people died. The sky turned black. Fires raged. Then tidal waves washed over the port, drowning hundreds more. Later, Voltaire wrote a poem challenging the prevailing view that this was a divine act of judgment. “Whilst you these facts replete with horror view, will you maintain death to their crimes was due?” he penned, adding, “Can you then impute a sinful … [Read more...]
Yeats: Passing the baton of God’s truth to the next generation
Dennis and Barbara Rainey tell the story of Jonathan and Sarah Edwards. This colonial couple left a legacy that was much larger than either of them could have imagined. The Raineys write, “Jonathan Edwards felt God’s call to become a minister. He and his young bride began a pastorate in a small congregation. During the years that followed, he wrote many sermons, prayers and books, and was influential in beginning the Great Awakening. Together they produced 11 children who grew into … [Read more...]
What has the Lord sent you to say?
Journalists are notoriously a tough crowd. Some go to prison rather than divulge a source. A few are imprisoned or even shot for being mistaken as spies. They take the heat from important people for holding them accountable. And Christian journalists have no fewer pressures as they work hard to accurately explain how God is at work. You may not be a journalist, but do you have a message of salvation from God? And how will you share it with those who need to hear it? Personal meet-up? Hand … [Read more...]
Another religious liberty threat rears its ugly head
On April 7 the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will not take up the religious liberty case involving a New Mexico wedding photography company which refused to provide services for a same-sex wedding ceremony. The court, as is customary, did not offer any explanation for declining to hear the case. As a result, the ruling lets stand an earlier decision by the New Mexico Supreme Court declaring that Elane Photography of Albuquerque, N.M., violated the New Mexico Human rights law. Elane … [Read more...]
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